Department for Transport

Electric Vehicles: Hire Services

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what analysis they have carried out of the (1) distances travelled by, and (2) purpose of travel of, users of e-scooters as part of the pilot projects.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The Department for Transport has in place a national monitoring and evaluation programme for the e-scooter trials, commissioned to Arup in partnership with NatCen. This is a mixed-methods impact evaluation drawing from a wide range of data sources, including a direct data feed from trial e-scooter operators, survey data with e-scooter users and trial areas residents, and qualitative research with local and national stakeholders. As part of this evaluation, we are collecting evidence on miles travelled on rental e-scooters, as well as mode shift from car and public transport. Findings from the evaluation will be published in the Spring. From the period from July 2020 to the end of December 2021, over 19.5 million miles have been travelled in total across the rental trials.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Aerospace Industry

Lord Jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency on the British aerospace industry.

Lord Callanan: In line with the principle of strategic and operational autonomy, ARIA’s leadership, not Ministers, will determine which programmes present the greatest opportunities for investment in transformational scientific research.

Advanced Research and Invention Agency: Pay

Lord Jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the expected salary range for the Chair of the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.

Lord Callanan: We are currently advertising the ARIA Chair role at a time commitment of approximately 1 day per week. Remuneration will be £148,500 full-time equivalent (£29,700 on 1 day per week). These terms are in keeping with other comparable roles across the public sector.

Help to Grow Scheme

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow small businesses who took part in the Small Business Leadership programme to participate in the Help to Grow: Management scheme.

Lord Callanan: Help to Grow: Management built on lessons from the successful Small Business Leadership Programme (SBLP), which the programme replaced. The programme is regularly kept under review and as part of this, we will continue to review the eligibility criteria to ensure it effectively supports businesses and delivers its outcomes.

Department of Health and Social Care

Neurology: Public Appointments

Baroness Gale: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to appoint aNational Clinical Director for Neurology.

Lord Kamall: Whilst there is currently no specific National Clinical Director or Specialty Adviser for neurology services, NHS England and NHS Improvement keep this under review and new National Clinical Directors or Specialty Advisers are appointed as necessary. The recent review of the clinical advisory infrastructure is concluding and the outcome will be announced in due course. The proposed changes will enable clinical leaders to continue to play an important role alongside NHS England delivering shared goals for service transformation and clinical improvement

Alcoholic Drinks: Labelling

Baroness Merron: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that alcohol labels include the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on low-risk consumption of alcohol.

Baroness Merron: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish the details of their consultation on the calorie labelling of alcohol.

Baroness Merron: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the delay in commencing the consultation of alcohol labelling since its announcement in 2020.

Lord Kamall: We have committed to consult on our intention to introduce calorie labelling on pre-packaged alcohol and alcohol sold in on-trade businesses such as pubs and restaurants in due course. The consultation will set out further details about the proposed policy and seek views on whether the provision of the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines should become mandatory or continue on a voluntary basis. The consultation has been delayed due to the pandemic and the focus to date on delivering legislation on promotions, advertising and out of home calorie labelling

Health Services: Finance

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their report Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2020–21, published on 31 January, (1) what outcomes they have identified, and (2) what steps they intend to take in response.

Lord Kamall: The outcomes identified in the report relate to the ‘Outcomes Frameworks’ discussed in the Secretary of State’s report element of the Annual Report and Accounts. These are the NHS Outcomes Framework, the Public Health Outcomes Framework and the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework.Given the breadth of these frameworks it is not possible to summarise all the work underway in the Department in relation to them, however, some key steps underway in relation to outcomes include the commitment made in our recent Integration White Paper to work with stakeholders to develop and introduce a framework with a focused set of national priorities, and an approach for prioritising shared outcomes at a local level, focused on individual and population health and wellbeing.The Department works closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement in monitoring progress in the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan. The Government intends to publish an update to the plan later this year, taking account of the impacts of the pandemic.We are bringing forward a Health and Care Bill which will, subject to Parliamentary passage, establish Integrated Care Systems. These will comprise of Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships, which will be responsible for producing plans and strategies for delivering improved health and care outcomes, alongside a wide range of other measures to improve health and social care outcomes.Ultimately this work is intended to support the Department’s overarching objective to help people live more independent, healthier lives, for longer.

Alcoholic Drinks: Children

Baroness Merron: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce the appeal of alcohol to children.

Lord Kamall: The UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising and Direct & Promotional Marketing and The UK Code of Broadcast Advertising provide that marketing communications and advertisements for alcoholic drinks should not be targeted at people under 18 years of age and should not imply, condone or encourage immoderate, irresponsible or anti-social drinking. The Codes provide that more than 25% of the audience in adjacent programmes or for the relevant publication should not be under 18 years old. Alcohol advertising must not be likely to appeal ‘strongly’ to young people under 18 years old, reflect or associate with youth culture or show adolescent or juvenile behaviour. No children and no one who is or appears to be under the age of 25 years old may play a significant role in the advertising of alcoholic drinks. Copies of the Codes are attached. Education on alcohol use is a statutory component of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education in England.

MMR Vaccine

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the uptake of the MMR vaccine.

Lord Kamall: On 1 February 2022 a new national marketing campaign was launched with the aim of increasing awareness and driving uptake of both doses of the MMR vaccine in children under the age of five years old.NHS England and NHS Improvement are implementing an MMR campaign from March 2022 to increase coverage of the MMR vaccine in the routine childhood programme. This will include a central call and recall for children aged between one and six years old who have been identified as not being up to date for their MMR vaccine for their age.

Department for Education

Education: Coroanvirus

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the need for catch-up classes for time missed from school during the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps will they take to provide this.

Baroness Barran: Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the attainment and progress of all students is a key research priority for the government. We have commissioned an independent research and assessment agency to provide a baseline assessment of catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England and monitor progress over the course of the 2020/21 academic year. This research is based on assessments that schools are already using and adds no additional burden on teachers. Initial findings from the research are available in the attached report. We are currently exploring options to assess progress over the course of the current academic year.Our latest evidence suggests that, in summer 2021, primary pupils were on average around one month behind in reading and around 3 months behind in maths compared to where we would expect them to be in a ‘normal year’. Secondary pupils were behind in their learning in reading by around 2 months.Overall direct investment announced for education recovery is almost £5 billion. This includes £1.8 billion of funding announced in the last Spending Review to support young people to catch up on missed learning.Our approach to recovery follows the evidence by providing universal support but also by targeting additional support at disadvantaged pupils, as well as older pupils with less time left in education. We are focusing on those interventions that have the greatest impact for pupils, especially on tutoring and teacher development, as well as direct recovery funding.HL5919_initial_findings (pdf, 350.3KB)

Pupil Exclusions: Special Educational Needs

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of pupils with Permanent Exclusions or Fixed Term Exclusions from School have Special Educational Needs in the most recent period for which figures are availble.

Baroness Barran: In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 5,057 permanent exclusions, of which 2,284 (45%) were for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). In the same year, there were 310,733 suspensions, of which 140,266 (45%) were issued to pupils with SEN.The table of data can be found in the attached excel document.HL5953_data (xls, 29.0KB)

Classroom Assistants and Teachers: Absenteeism

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the total percentage absentee rate of (1) head teachers, (2) teachers, and (3) teaching assistants, since the beginning of the academic year.

Baroness Barran: The requested data is not yet available. The daily Education Setting survey asks schools and colleges to report data such as on-site attendance and COVID-19 absence.The most recent published data for staff absences at national level from the daily education settings survey is as at 3 February 2022 and can be found in: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.The department estimates that 9.1% of teachers and school leaders, and 9.0% of teaching assistants and other staff were absent from open schools on 3 February 2022.Data relating to teacher and teaching assistant absence over time is collected from state funded schools in England from the November school workforce census. Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2021 census, covering the 2020-21 academic year will be published in summer 2022 at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

Home Education

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to require parents to register if they are home educating children.

Baroness Barran: The government is committed to a form of local authority register for children not in school, which would require parents to register with local authorities should they want to home educate. Further details on this is in the Children Not In School consultation response, which was published on 3 February 2022, and is avaliable in the attached document. We hope to legislate on this measure at the next suitable opportunity.HL5900_Children_not_in_school_consultation_respons (pdf, 442.9KB)

Ministry of Justice

National Security: Hong Kong

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Lord Sumption following his comments reported in The Timeson 2 February that he would be willing to preside over a National Security Law case in Hong Kong.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar: Her Majesty’s Government has not had any discussions with Lord Sumption following his comments being reported in The Times on 2 February.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Developing Countries: Midwives and Nurses

Baroness Cox: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will reinstate the Nursing Now programme to deliver nursing and midwifery training in developing countries.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK government is committed to efforts to strengthen the global healthcare workforce - including through nurse and midwife training in low and lower-middle income countries - as part of a wider health systems strengthening approach. This is laid out in the FCDO's recently published Health Systems Strengthening and Ending Preventable Deaths of Mothers, Babies and Children Approach Papers. We do not have current plans to reinstate funding for the Nursing Now campaign after the seismic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UK economy forced the Government to take tough but necessary decisions, including reducing Official Development Assistance spending from 0.7 to 0.5% of Gross National Income.We will continue to support efforts to strengthen national healthcare workforces through our bilateral programming and our support to large multi-country programmes such as the Global Financing Facility, the World Health Organization, and our £1.4 billion contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria (2020-2024). The Global Fund invests around $1billion per year in health systems strengthening, the majority of which supports human resources for health. The FCDO has seconded a Human Resources for Health Adviser to the Global Fund to help to maximise the impact of this significant investment.

Home Office

Hillsborough Families' Experiences Review

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will respond to the Right Reverend James Jones's report on learning from those bereaved through the Hillsborough Disaster The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, published on 1 November 2017.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The points of learning made by Bishop James Jones in his report on the experiences of the Hillsborough families span a number of departments and organisations. The Home Office is coordinating the Government’s response to the report and is working closely with its partners in the relevant government departments and organisations to carefully consider the points of learning. It was important to await the conclusion of the criminal proceedings before progressing with certain elements of this work, to avoid any risk of prejudice to those proceedings. The last trial concluded in May 2021, and the Government is now working to fulfil its commitment to engage with the Hillsborough families, before publishing the Government’s overarching response to the Bishop’s report in due course.

Asylum: Germany

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatplans they have to assess the process for managing asylum applications in Germany before the conclusion of the passage of the Nationality and Borders Bill.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We are aware of various practices across EU member states, including Germany, with respect to processing asylum claims and maintain a consistent dialogue with our international partners to see what we can learn from their approach.This government has been clear on its commitment to overhauling the current asylum system, which is obviously broken and in critical need of reform. The New Plan for Immigration brings about a suite of measures designed to reduce the abuse of the asylum system, improve efficiency and focus resources on those in most need of our support. The Home Office is pursuing a programme of transformation and business improvement initiatives which will speed up decision making, reduce the time people spend in the system and reduce the numbers who are awaiting an interview or decision. This includes almost doubling decision makers number to c.1,000 and providing improved training and career progression opportunities to aid retention of staff.

Cabinet Office

Government Departments: Disclosure of Information

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many non-disclosure agreements were agreed in government departments in each of the last five years.

Lord True: Departments are responsible for the management of their staff, in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Service Management Code. As such, the requested information is held by individual departments. The Cabinet Office publishes guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses in the Civil Service. This is publicly available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/817156/Cabinet-Office-guidance-on-settlement-agreements-special-severance-payments-on-termination-of-employment-and-confidentiality-clauses.pdf. It makes clear that such clauses should not be used to prevent staff from raising or discussing allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination. Cabinet Office Guidance (pdf, 261.2KB)

Ministers: Pay

Lord Jopling: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatconstraints are imposed on ministers who receive no ministerial salary in relation to their capacity to receive non-Parliamentary income.

Lord True: All Ministers are subject to the Ministerial Code, which provides guidance to Ministers on how they should act and arrange their affairs in order to uphold the standards set out in the Code. Under the terms of the Code, Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Code and for justifying their actions and conduct to Parliament and the public.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Commonwealth Games 2022: Coronavirus

Lord Addington: To ask Her Majesty's Government what facility has beencreated to assist any competing country at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games to ensure that their (1) athletes, (2) potential athletes, and (3) support staff, are vaccinated against COVID-19 before the start of the games.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee has been in regular contact with Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) through monthly briefings and the recent Chefs de Mission seminar and will soon meet each association’s Chief Medical Officer to discuss all aspects of Covid-19 planning for the Games.

Television Licences: Fees and Charges

Lord Watson of Invergowrie: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the effect of freezing the TV Licence fee until 2024 on the BBC’s educational output.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: The Government recognises that the BBC’s educational output is an important element of its public purpose. The BBC’s educational offer over lockdown was a demonstration of public service broadcasting at its best and has made a big difference to millions of children across the UK while schools are closed.The BBC will receive £23 billion over the rest of this Charter period, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best. The Royal Charter requires the BBC to provide specialist educational content to help support learning for children and teenagers across the United Kingdom.As the BBC is operationally and editorially independent it is up to the BBC to decide how it spends its licence fee settlement. The Government wants to see it deliver the best quality services and output possible with the funding it receives from the public.